Cotton Candy
by Isabelle Montgomery
Summary: In answer to a challenge set forth by my friend involving - cotton candy, leather pants, rollar-coasters and some popular guy who happens to be an elf.
1. first meeting and sppiiidddiiiddiimmmeee...

Nicole was ecstatic, nothing like this had happened to her for years. She could feel butterflies flutter in her stomach as memories flew through her mind. She took a step forward. Just a little longer, she thought excitedly. She took another step forward. 

" Tickets," said the ride operator. Smiling, Nicole handed the man her tickets and walked quickly to the nearest car. She hadn't been on a roller coaster for years, but this was her vacation after all. Her aunt begged her to stay in New Zealand for a while longer before her semester began, back in the states. She agreed to stay, only on one condition, that she would have as much fun as possible. Which she planned to do whole-heartedly. 

So here she was at a local carnival park entering into her first ride of the night. She didn't know if a roller coaster would be a good idea, but she dared it anyway. As the cars filled Nicole noticed that many of the cars held couples. Which was only logical, seeing as that there were only two seats in a car, but it still made Nicole feel a little down because the seat next to her was empty, but not for long. 

Even as she looked into the dark plastic seat next to her a pair of dark trousers stepped into her view. She looked up quickly, surprised. Her eyes seemed to be playing tricks on her, as well as her ears, because she swore that she heard this beautiful man with dark as night eyes and hair ask her something. 

She shook her head to relieve herself of this wonderful daydream, but it wouldn't budge. Finally as she stared at him she heard his words.

" Is this seat open? May I sit here?" Now she was almost sure that she was daydreaming. No man could have had that voice, it was pure chocolate. Numbly, she nodded her head. Nicole snapped out of her daze when he sat down hard in the seat next to her and the harness locked down. He was real, very real, and damn hot. She let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. He looked at her.

" Are you okay?" He asked. Nicole looked at his slightly worried face and nodded slowly, then she remembered her wits. 

" Uh, yeah, I'm fine. Um, I just haven't been on a roller coaster in years. I'm just kinda scared." She smiled slightly. He laughed.

" We have something in common. I'm 'kinda' scared too." Somehow that put Nicole more at ease. 

" Promise not to laugh if I scream?" he said with a smile, it made her laugh. 

" Okay, as long as you promise not to hurt me if I do. Just kidding," she giggled. He laughed, but it was cut short by the ride beginning to move.

The little butterflies in Nicole's stomach turned into gigantic moths that were fighting to get out as the car inched closer to the top. Her partner looked at her with excitement on his handsome face, but his smiled turned down a bit in reaction to Nicole's very serious expression. Her hands gripped the brace bar on her harness so hard that her knuckles went white. Nicole almost screamed when the man next to her touched her hand. He took her hand in his with a reassuring glance as the car finally reached the top of the roller coaster and they plummeted to Earth. 

Nicole couldn't describe how she felt. Emotions like she hadn't felt in years came rushing back to her. Adrenaline pumped in her veins, making her heart beat faster with each erratic breath. Absolute fear surged though her, from her toes to her the tip of her head, and she felt wonderful as she tried to conquer it. The hand grasping hers squeezed her tighter as they went through a loop-d-loop. The bright world slipped upside down for only a few breathtaking instances and then righted itself. She screamed a shrill excited scream as they went though another loop-d-loop and dropped down another slope. She let go of the hot hand holding her like a vise and grabbed onto her brace bar on her harness. The ride rocketed them up another summit, only to be dropped into a dizzying spiral and yet another loop-d-loop. As warned the man next to her screamed loudly when the car took a sudden jerk. Later on Nicole would readily admit that he actually squealed. But at that moment she laughed very loudly. The man next to her grabbed her hand again as they came up to the last quick dip. He squeezed her hand tightly and stole a playful, vengeful look at her. The ride slowed and pulled into the station. Nicole laughed again. 

As soon as the harness came off Nicole jumped up, only to come crashing down. Almost. The man next to her caught her before she could fall anymore and helped her out of the car. 

" Careful, adrenaline will go straight to your head, but never your body parts," he said. She laughed again. He let go of her and she stood on her own. Her heart was still pounding hard, and she felt lightheaded but she still felt the best she had in years. She smiled at him and giggled. He gave her a quelling look and Nicole pointed to his hair. 

The perfectly gelled hair he met her with was now all over his head. He smiled and pointed likewise. Nicole's medium length hair wasn't only in tangles but literally sticking up! She groaned and giggled at the same time. She was suddenly shoved forward as someone brushed by her. People were trying to get inside the car they were standing in front of. Nicole and the man she rode with headed for the exit. She waved her goodbye and walked off across the park. 

The high she was on wore away pretty quickly and Nicole searched for some other entertainment. She found a cute little ride through indoor haunted house she finally decided on going into. Nicole was always afraid of someone jumping out at her since she was little girl. But now she was a grown woman, and she had to face her fears. She sat down in the little two-seat car and waited for the ride to start. Immediately scenarios started playing in her head, a million miles a second. A man would jump out at her and try to kill her. Something would grab her in the dark. A hideous monster would plop itself next to her and try to devour her. She was pretty close on that one. 

Nicole gave a startled yelp when someone plopped down beside her. Her fearful eyes fell on a very startled familiar face. Nicole calmed down and let out a laugh of relief. 

" What was that for?" he asked.

" Oh, nothing," she responded, " I only thought you were some hideous beast who came to eat me, but now it's just you." He gave her a strange look, not knowing if that was an insult or a complement. 

" Are you stalking me?" she asked with one eyebrow lifted. Her good humor returned easily. 

" N-no. I just thought this looked cute." He stuttered, not expecting her comment. 

" Gee, thanks!" she said, taking it as if he were talking about her being cute. She knew he meant the ride, but hey, one could dream, couldn't they? The little car lurched forward and they started their creep into what looked to be an evil werewolf mouth with blacklights. 

" Promise not to laugh if I scream?" Nicole asked, using the same playful tone her ride partner used earlier. 

" As long as you promise not to hurt me if I do," he said. She chuckled. 

" I used to so afraid of these places when I was little." She said as they passed into the clowns mouth and utter darkness. 

" I wasn't, I was that one kid who used to sneak in and scare everyone else by hiding in the shadows." 

" I hated you! I mean I hated those kids!" she said, and gave a startled yelp. A figure of a vampire popped out of the darkness right in front of their car. Embarrassed Nicole laughed softly. The ride was going briskly along and turned suddenly into a tunnel like structure. Suddenly a light shown and Nicole yelped again, this time turning into her partner's shoulder. There stood a boy with a severed head in the light. It was terribly cheesy, but got the desired effect out of Nicole. Her car buddy seemed as cool as a cucumber, and highly amused. The ride kept going, twisting and turning with the usual jumpy frights with scary lights and figures. It wasn't until the very end did things become scary. 

They just had just passed the glowing eye bat part of the ride, with no yelp from Nicole (she was damn proud of herself). When they came to a cobweb part the man sitting next to her tensed. She could feel the tightening of his body squeezed next to her. As they came under the web she looked over at her car partner, his eyes were squeezed shut. At that very moment a huge plastic spider fell from the ceiling and landed right on his shoulder. 

Nicole had never seen a man freak out like he did. He jumped up screaming, actually screaming this time, and flailing his arms trying to get the fake spider off of him.

" SSSpppidddiiiiddiiimmeerrr!!" he half stuttered half screamed. While flailing his arms he got caught in some cobweb and brought it with him as he tried to sit down again. In all this chaos the ride kept going and as he tried to get the cobweb off frantically his hand shot out and punched Nicole right in the stomach. She lost her breath immediately, needless to say she was not expecting that. So the ride ended, after an evil clown popped out at them, with Nicole clutching her stomach desperately trying to catch a breath, and her partner frantically trying to scratch cobwebs off of himself.

" Did you enjoy the ride Miss?" asked the ride operator as Nicole limped out of the car. 

" Yeah, breathtaking," Nicole sputtered (yes you can roll your eyes to that pun). She stood by the exit for a few moments catching her breath then went out of the ride area completely. Looking up, she noticed the sun was almost completely down, and the park turned on it's lights. She turned, half expecting her mysterious ride partner to be there. Low, and behold, he was. He was running to catch up to her, still dusting off his shirt from invisible cobwebs. 

" I'm so sorry! I didn't hurt you or anything did I?" he asked. 

" Nope. What happened in there?" she inquired. He looked at his feet bashfully. 

" I don't like spiders" he said brokenly. 

" I think I got that." She said sarcastically. She rubbed the spot he accidentally hit her. Payback will be at hand sometime, she thought. " Oh, and don't worry, you didn't really scream like a Nancy-boy, but don't worry I'll keep that our little secret." She gave a small laugh, half-hoping she didn't offend him. He chuckled. Nicole led the way over to a bench where she sat down. Her companion, as he seemed to be, decided not to sit. 

" But you did," he muttered. Nicole chuckled best to her ability. 

" Hey! I'm a girl! I'm supposed to scream!" She grinned. Her grin became larger when she heard a loud rumble, but it wasn't from her tender belly. 

"Somebody's hungry," she stated staring at his stomach, which was eye level. He placed a hand on his stomach and said an embarrassed 'yeah'.

" Wanna get some grub then?" she said after a few moments of awkward silence. 

" I thought you'd never ask," He smiled and offered her a hand to help her up. 


	2. gub and converstaion

"Ah, grub," Nicole said as she sat down with a huge elephant ear and some cotton candy. Her friend though had bought himself a huge bucket of greasy fries and a huge hamburger. 

" So, let's recap," she said. " I've heard you scream twice ::coughnancyboycough::" 

" Hey!" he protested with a grin. He waved his fry at her, " and you nearly broke my hand on the coaster."

" And you" she pointed at him with one of his own fries, stealing one, " punched me!" 

" Sorry about that." He looked down again. 

" Ah, story of my life," she joked. He laughed and bit into his burger. 

" Who are you anyway?" He asked, his mouth full of hamburger. Nicole snickered but answered. 

" Nicole Sunderlin at your service," she put out her hand, which was full of cinnimon sugar.

" Orlando Bloom, please call me Orli," he answered taking her hand with his own, which had grease all over it. Their hands squished for a moment and then returned to their prospective owners. Orli wiped his hand on the side of his shirt; Nicole wiped hers on her leg. 

" You're American," he said, not really knowing anything else to say.

" And you're British. Southern England I suppose?" He looked at her strangely and nodded. 

" How'd you know?" Nicole smiled a secret smile and wiggled her eyebrows.

" I've been following you, I am a secret agent working for the CIA and you have potential, we just wanted to get to you before your own government." She picked up her elephant ear and bit off a huge doughy piece. Orlando was frozen, probably with shock. Nicole nearly choked on her elephant ear with laughter, but she kept it together nicely. Orli gave a nervous laugh and was about to say something when Nicole reached across the table and grabbed his arm. 

" There's one of you men right there, damn I knew we were being followed, NO!" she said sharply when he turned to look. " don't look, then he'll know and we'll be in big trouble." She looked into Orli's eyes. They were wide with surprise. His face looked like an empty glass, and he was gulping up everything she said. He had even abandoned his burger. Nicole was struggling so hard that tears actually came to her eyes. As soon as she felt them roll down her cheek she couldn't keep the bubbling laughter in. 

" I'm sorry!" she said in between gasps of laughter. She forced herself to calm down when she saw the mean scowl on Orli's face. " I'm really sorry. I was just kidding. I'm not CIA agent."

" Funny." He said. Sarcasm, isn't it lovely?

" I'm really sorry, Orli! Hey! I'll get you another hamburger on me!" She smiled what she hoped was a winning smile.

" Okay," he said smiling. " Your hair is still sticking up." Nicole gasped and ran her hand through her hair. It seemed okay. He chuckled. She realized it was a minor payback. 

" Okay, you got me," she rose her hands like she was caught with something. She smiled and dug back into her elephant ear. Orlando dove into his burger and fries like it was the only thing in the world. Hmm, thought Nicole, I wonder if he's like that with… Oh! Bad Nicole! Stop thinking that way!

Orli finished his last fry and turned his attention back to Nicole, who was silently eating her cotton candy and looking at him. 

" How did you know I came from Southern England?" he asked. " Truth this time." 

" I work for a publishing company out of North Carolina, who works with various international publishers. I talk daily with people from Yorkshire, London, Carlisle, and Dover, just to name a few." She smiled. 

" Sounds interesting."

" It's okay, but not the mind blowing experience of a lifetime. I would rather be traipsing through the valleys, or climbing mountains in some exotic place like here. But no such luck for Nicole."

" Well, you're here now." He supplemented.

" So what do you do for a living, now that I have given you my life story." 

" I, uh, I'm an actor." He said, strangely jittery.

" Awesome, one of my friend's an actor, or I should say actress, she's s girl." Nicole smiled sheepishly and took a small piece of her cotton candy. " Been in any good plays?"

" I haven't worked on the stage in a few years, but I'd love to get back into it." He said. Orli sounded a little distracted and Nicole looked up from her cotton candy. He was staring intently at her huge cone of cotton candy as she ate it. Grinning a bit she offered it to him. He grinned back and took a small piece. Nicole had to keep herself from drooling too much as she watched the cotton candy melt on his lips. I wonder, she thought, what cotton candy and Orli taste like. Oh my god Nicole! You've known this guy for like an hour! Damn your hormones!

Unconsciously Nicole reached up and smacked her own forehead to rid herself of her dirty thoughts. 

" Um, ow." She rubbed the spot she just smacked.

" What was that for?" Orli looked at her torn between being amused and concerned. At last amused won out. 

" Oh, uh, nothing, I think I just forgot to do something today." She smiled and laughed nervously.

" I know the feeling." He chuckled. But suddenly his chuckle turned to a frown. " Actually I know the feeling quite well, as in I'm feeling it right now."

" Well?" she asked before taking another bite of cotton candy. " Whatcha forget? Nevermind, stupid question." 

" Oh, damn. Do you have the time?" He took another piece of cotton candy before leaning over the table to look at her watch. She lifted her arm so he could see better, but he in turn took her arm in his dans and turned it ever so slightly so he could see her little watch. 

" Oh, bloody hell. I'm sorry Nicole, I must be off. I was supposed to be meeting someone for dinner fifteen minutes ago." He stood to leave, but not without stealing the last bit of cottoncandy fron the paper cone. Mentally Nicole deflated, 'meeting someone' usually meant a girlfriend. Geez Nicole, she thought, already setting up a wedding date are we?

" Well it was nice to meet you Orli. Thanks for the encouragement on the rides." 

" Sure, it wasn't a problem at all. I like doing things for pretty girls." He smiled. Nicole did a little mental jerk. Pretty? Then she did a little mental dance. 

" Thanks again. I hope your dinner date doesn't hold it too much against you that you're late," 

" So do I, it was a pleasure Nicole." He offered his hand to her and she took it. They held hands a moment over polite, but that didn't bother Nicole in the least. She was positive that if he kissed her hand she would have fallen over and fainted. Luckily for her he let go and gave her a great smile. 

" May the fates have our lives so that we may meet again."

" You **are** an actor. Bye."

" Buh-bye" With that he turned away and Nicole sighed in more of a love-sick-puppy way than she would have liked. Not being in the presence of an awesomely gorgeous will make you immediately bored, such was the case for Nicole. She looked down at her empty cone of cotton candy. It was well, empty, and that's certainly exciting isn't it? Sighing once again Nicole set down the cone onto the tray that was piled with trash. She looked around her in the artificial light that the amusement park produced. People were bustling by on their merry way. She could hear screams from the roller-coaster across the way. Mingled in the frightened and exhilarating screams was clear, happy laughter. Just in hearing it Nicole smiled. She looked at her watch, it was nearly 9:30. She was mildly surprised that it was so late. Getting up from the table she decided to grab a few more rides before the park closed at 10pm.

Unfortunately for Nicole all but three rides closed at 9pm. So she was forced to either ride the "Tunnel of Love" alone, or the scary ride she went on earlier, or bumper cars. Seeing that none of these rides interested her in the least Nicole headed out of the park toward where her car was parked. 

The night was warm and slightly heavy with humidity. Though there was no underlying current of cold air, Nicole hugged herself, trying to realize that today was real. It may have not been what she expected but hey it was a far cry from what she would have been doing back in North Carolina talking to publishers from around the globe. She was having fun, and doing a damn good job, she thought.


End file.
